


aide to mèmoire

by kaerukyuubi



Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Military, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Blood and Injury, F/F, Memory Loss, Physical Abuse, Psychological Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:41:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26581576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaerukyuubi/pseuds/kaerukyuubi
Summary: She is the one i love. But she isn't the same. I ought to love the one she is right now as well.She protected me before. Now it's my turn to do so.
Relationships: Hikawa Sayo/Imai Lisa
Comments: 19
Kudos: 56





	1. First File

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, it's another sayolisa fic! Please enjoy without heavy thoughts~

A strange feeling that has been building up since who knows.

The first thing she was able to feel when she opened her eyes was emptiness. Dry throat. Slight burns through her eyes due to sudden light. People murmuring beside her, calling what supposed to be her name.

“It said her name was Hikawa. Hikawa...”,

“…guess so..”

As she tried to look even clearly, her vision was blocked by someone with white coat.

“You’re awake, One.”

She moved her head towards the sound. The man checked her IV fluids, and nodded, then down to write something on his pad.

“.. Where am i..” she sounds so hoarse.

“Our sanctuary. For now, just remember that.” He looked to his attendee. “She gained her hearings.”

She opened her clear jade eyes, now that it doesn’t seems to hurt that much. 

A bright light from the ceiling blinding her for some good moments. When she finally can adapt to the light, a sharp pain shooting through her head. A glimpse of a brown haired girl with white coat appeared in her mind, but when she tried to think who is that girl in her mind..

“.. Then, let’s start Phase Two.”

There was nothing left.

\---------------------------

The sunset in that city was apparent, it was Lisa’s time to go home. She started her car and as the machine reviving, she set the radio on.

_"As the governor said, the crime rate has been lowered into 1,2% during this month. After the regulation of wiping is now more active towards the prisoner as the new verdict that depends on their crime—"_

Lisa switched the panel and instead, she linked her phone to the player and blaring some jazzy music.

“That’s better.”

She drove about 15 minutes away from her workplace, a government lab, Yes, she is a researcher, one of the top in nursery—a new field in the research team that recently has an urgent need in that part, because of the ‘Wiping’.

Truth to be told, Lisa didn’t see why the government had such an idea to do this kind of judgement. The system made the person who was wiped no longer have any memory of their past, even including the memories of their daily life and daily needs, such as talking, walking, eating by oneself, and such. The whole concept of making someone back as pure as the baby, but with outstanding intelligence. Of course, like for example, her patient right now. She is 24 in actual age, the same age as Lisa, could do the study course of being a rather proper human in her 6th month. Ever since then, she was brought by Lisa to her own house for further study.. and of course, another meaning behind it.

It was near six in the afternoon when Lisa arrived at her house. Thrusting the car keys inside her bag and rummaging it back for the house key, Lisa strode to her house. _“Tadaima!”_ Lisa shouted but got no answer. She checked every room in that house, when she started to feel anxious and desperate, she found Sayo under the cherry blossom tree.

“Sayo~” Lisa made a beeline towards Sayo, opening up the backyard’s sliding door.. “Uhh.. Work’s been hard lately.” She looked at something in Sayo’s hand.

It was a pack of origami that Lisa told her to do while she was away. Now it has been folded into so much birds. Lisa only told her to do that purely for maintaining her fine motor skill and overall for fun. Not in her mind the girl took this seriously.

_Just like the old times. I guess they can’t really erase someone’s traits._ Lisa sighing but quickly hides it with a smile.

“Imai-san.” Sayo lifted the bird. “.. Did I.. do good?”, Lisa nodded. “It is! Y’know..” She lifted one of the other birds that was scattered around Sayo.

“Folding a thousand birds and one of your wishes come true.”,

“A wish?” Lisa nodded, and Sayo looked at the bird seriously. “This thing.. Can make a wish come true..”

Lisa laughed, and Sayo looked at her closely. She never saw Lisa laugh that big. And she found it amusing, because she started to feel something. It wasn’t told by the class, but one of the teacher said there are something that everybody can feel it differently, but it can be understandable as one word.

Love.

“Now, now, we don’t know if it really can do that or not, right?” Lisa saw the glimmer in Sayo eyes became more apparent, and she knows the girl already made her mind. “Sayo, you have a wish?”,

“I.. I’m not so sure.” She became visibly deflated, discouragement apparent clear. Lisa waited, giving Sayo the space that girl needed. “.. It’s been a bit too much.”,

“What is it?”,

Sayo frowned, “Sorry, Imai-san. When you told me not to watch television, I watched it anyway..” Lisa nodding along, silently told the girl to go on. “And there is a video.. they are,” Sayo pulled Lisa closer and hugged her. “They did this.”

“O-Oh,” Taken aback, Lisa didn’t noticed her face went red, but something inside her has triggered. _This warmth, this sturdy hands.._ If Sayo didn’t aburptly pulled back, she was sure she is going too burst into tears. She cleared her throat. “And what is it that you didn’t understand?”,

Sayo seems confused, she folded her arms and think hard. “A girl said to a man that she loved him, and she did that. The man said the same.. And..” Sayo touched Lisa’s chin. “He did this.”

Lisa wasn’t aware what happened, when her vision blurred into a head of teal. A soft peck landed on her chin, not exactly on her lips. When Sayo back into her vision, Lisa really, really hoped Sayo might remember something. That she might said something like..

“I promised you I will stay by your side.”

For some still moments, Lisa looked at Sayo. The same existence that is supposed to be an empty vessel right now.. _The very dear of my own.._

A blizzard of emotion flashes in her olive eyes, tears now threaten to escape.

_...I promised you I will stay by your side.._

“.. That man said something like that,” Sayo lifted her hand, “And I’m not sure if I did it right, I can’t see it too well..”,

The brown haired girl shuts her eyes, pressing it harder to prevent any tears from coming out. She gulped, “So the school didn’t told you something like that?”,

“Just the word, Love. Everyone seems to understand it quickly and I felt like I’m the only one who left behind..” She gasped. “Is that why I am here?”,

“Part of it, yes.” Lisa almost can see, again, a deflated state of Sayo. If that girl had tail and ear, it would be very cute. Like a kicked puppy. Lisa hummed. “But you’re here to learn that!”,

“I am here for almost 3 months. I can count already.” Sayo folded her arms. “B-But I still don’t understand those things. And the teacher in the school didn’t make a good explanation.” She then looked at Lisa, “Maybe you can?”,

Lisa smiled, a sad one, but Sayo didn’t recognize it. She only finds it different from before. “That’s really the things you should understand by yourself, Sayo.” When she saw the other girl pouted, she giggled. “Let’s take these inside a bag and count it! Will you make it to a thousand?”,

“Mhm. I will. It is my own wish afterall.”,

“A studious girl, aren’t you?”

The two of them then began to shower, after tidying the pack of birds. Lisa thought she should buy Sayo more origami paper. “Let..!” Sayo bit her own tongue and again, that made Lisa laugh.

“You bit your tongue, eh?” Sayo blushed. “Say, what do you want to say earlier?” Lisa was now washing Sayo’s hair. The girl wore a shower cap, to avoid the shampoo runs down through her face.

“Uh, Let me wash your back.”

“Eh~? You can do that?” Sayo nodded. “Ah! Don’t move now, the foam will fall..”,

“I know how to do that!” the teal-haired girl pumped her fist. “We learned that at school.” Lisa knew it, but hummed anyway. “They said it’s a token of gratitude.”,

Lisa snickered, “Okay then, after I wash out your hair, kay~?”

After her hair cleaned up, they changed their position. Sayo grasped the sponge and carefully scrapping it on Lisa’s back. “Beautiful..”,

“Hmm..? What is it?”,

“Ah, um,” Sayo blushed. “Your skin is very beautiful..”,

_“Ara~ Arigatou~”_ Lisa felt those delicate touch, but lack of power from the usual Sayo, the past Sayo, did that.

“Imai-san? Is it to your liking?”,

Lisa flinched, “Oh! Um! It’s nice, Sayo, thank you so much. Now, now, wash it and we can get in.”

She didn’t have to look at Sayo expression to felt that it shone brightly at the mention of tub.

\---------------------------

If Lisa was Sayo’s childhood friend, she would experience these kind of thing earlier. They are now in front of the television – Lisa is actually only allowed Sayo to watch TV only with her, and Sayo slept on her shoulder, her feather-light body leaning against Lisa. She watched Sayo’s uncontrollable expression now, defenseless.

“Like a child..” Lisa turned off the TV, and shook Sayo lightly. “Sayoo~”,

“5 more minutes..”, “Eeh? Where did you learn those phrases!”

Sayo rose herself up and rubbing her eyes. “Let’s sleep.” She then nodded along and let herself led by Lisa to their room.

Their room, previously Lisa’s, is quite big. Being an advanced researcher herself, she does have a lot of money, enough to buy her a house. The room has 2 wardrobe, a tall one and a short one, contained 3 docks. Across of it, there is a table—all of Lisa’s cosmetics, perfumes, and else was stored there, under a hanging mirror. In the middle of the room there is a queen sized bed, put upon fabricated carpet, colored red with white polkadots in it. On the left side of her bed, a window, big and clear, facing the city. Lisa was grateful she can buy a house on the top of the hill in that city.

The house she planned to live with Sayo. Afterall, they both had their savings as a price of living together.

_And now.._

Lisa’s gaze landed on Sayo, who’s quick to fell asleep. _Again, she can’t be woken up easily. Just like before._ She smiled. She does live together with Sayo right now, not the way she wanted, but she didn’t have any power to deflect that. It is now, into the depths of the night that Lisa felt powerless. The wall she built ever since the judgement had fall to her beloved one, the power she tried to gain day by day, crushed slowly, seeping painfully inside her mind.

A single tear streamed down her face, as she gritted her teeth, biting her lips, tried her hardest not to sobs. She hugged Sayo loosely, and kissing the top of the girl’s head. “I’m sorry that you have to get through this..”

Little did she know, Sayo opened her eyes, and felt herself engulfed by Lisa’s trembling body.

\---------------------------

A bad weather to start the morning. Rain has been pouring endlessly since dawn, so the morning is cold as well. That’s one of the reason Lisa was late.

“Uwaah, I’m late, I’m late!” Lisa bit a slice of bread, and cutting some ham and ripping the new box for a few bacons to fry. She quickly take out some packs of last night’s dinner left over. A bunch of braised pork, an enough portion of chikuzenni, and she began to cleanse the rice when she’s done heating back those.

Sayo stood near the kitchen bar, unsure what to do. “Can I.. at least do something?”,

“Oh! Sayo.. uhm,” She looked to the pot. “Can you clean the bento box?”,

The teal haired girl moved to the sink and over it she opened the cupboard, taking one of the bento boxes. After she thought it was clean enough, she put it near Lisa. While looking busy, Lisa keep her smile intact. “Thank you, Sayo.”,

“Yeah.” Sayo saw a plate that was pushed to her. 

“Bring it to the table and eat it, okay? Milk, tea, coffee?”,

“Milk.. can i ask for a chocolate one?”,

“Right away!”

Eventhough Lisa prepared all of them as efficient as possible, Sayo didn’t hear anything unsettling of the kitchen utensils. _If she was in a hurry, shouldn’t there be some clink or even something fall..?_ But Sayo failed to identify anything like that. She guessed Lisa is indeed an expert as well in the kitchen. Someday she got to tell her that.

Sayo ate everything on the plate carefully, trying her best not to spoil anything on the table today. She was sure her body trained well but sometimes she still felt herself loosing its grip. Lisa put a glass of chocolate milk on the table. “If you done, put it in the sink, okay?” Sayo nodded and saw Lisa grabbed her coat and her bag, rumagging it a bit, only to pull out her car keys.

“Oh, Sayo, could you please hang the laundry if the rain stopped?”,

“Yes, Imai-san. Please be careful on your way to work.”

Lisa shouted something while going out to the heavy rain outside. After Sayo heard the engine reviving up, she rose from her seat and quickly emptied the glass. She put all of them inside the sink, along with another pot Lisa used to heat the left over and another utensils. Rolling up her sleeves, Sayo pumped her fist. “I can do this!”

\---------------------------

_“Ohayo~”_ Lisa tried to be chipper in a cold morning after unlocking the research door by her fingerprint, the one morning when she is almost late. Not to mention that she didn’t get any parking lot in the basement, so she park outside the front building and rushed inside. There goes her mac, drenched all over.

“Morning, Lisa-san.. Ueh? You’re so drenched!” Maya gasped, looking at Lisa’s brown tresses that is dripping. She fetched the towel inside her locker.  
Yamato Maya is one of the researcher in nursery, but she is specialized in the equipment. Attending to so much robotic thing to make Wiped’s quality of life better is her job. A genius person, Lisa would added.

“Phew, thank you so much, Maya! It was bad already, I didn’t get to park inside!” Lisa removed her mac and hanged it on the pole near the exit door. She tried her best to dry her hair but well, she opted to dry it with dryer on the refresher room.

“Come to think of it,” Maya slightly fixing her glasses and looked at the clock on the wall, “You are nearly late! What happened?”,

“I don’t know, just a chilly morning to begin with, a~nd I guess I let myself sleep more.” Lisa laughed airily.

“Where is Aya and Rinko?”,

“They are on the Lab downstairs, I heard there are more people got Wiped yesterday and the nurse need their help to administer them inside the school.”,

Lisa hummed and turned her computer on, placing a controller that she wears like a watch near the keyboard. The Controller is something that all the caretakers of the Wiped have. It has every stats from the Wiped, the vital signs and a scale that was ranged from 1 to 10. Lisa understood it as an emotion checker. The function is basically to control the Wiped, if there is something wrong with their stat, even if the caretaker is faraway, they can stop the Wiped movement. How they can stop it? There are several ways. Now as she is attending Sayo, she wears one.

“So, the agenda for today has been set, but I would like you to check, Lisa-san.”,

“Woah, thank you, Maya!” She looked at the tab Maya hands, and inspecting the schedule for today. “Please add a little meeting for Researcher at 3. I think there is some curriculum that I need to fix and talk to you all before I can admit it to the school.”,

“Roger that.”

Lisa added some patients that she needs to check today, this is more like she is a doctor than a researcher. This was all for the data she needs for further research, especially if there is leaking memories among Wiped. 

The supervisor of this big project, Sayo’s father, Hikawa Ensei is the head of research lab. He is the one who got the idea of wiping. Everyone said that he is a brilliant person with good will to humanity, as to not kill but let them have a restart.

But every result of a successful experiments needs their first try.

Hikawa Ensei has signed a wiping contract… upon his own daughter.

‐--------------------------

Lisa was about to go to visit her patient. She lifted her tab and wearing her white coat, not forget to wear back the Controller. That’s when she feels it buzzing.

“Hmm..?” She pulled out a hovering screen and it shows Sayo’s statistic. The scale slowly went down.

_7… 6… 5,5.. 5.. 4.._

“Sayo?!” Lisa rushed to her table again, picking her phone and call her house. The last thing she wanted to do.. is to control Sayo from the Controller. That feels wrong to her, that would make Lisa uncomfortable.

“C’mon, C’mon.. I told you how to pick up the phone, right..” When Lisa looked at her device once again, Maya came to her sight.

“Lisa-san, you have to turn her off.”,

Lisa shook her head, grimacing. “I won’t..!”,

“Lisa-san, you know it better if someone fell to 2..!”,

“I can’t do that to Sayo..!”

Maya rose her tab and open up Sayo’s statistic. All the bars have gone red. “Maya..!”

As Maya tapped the tab, buzzing on Lisa’s wrist went off. She lowered her hand that was holding her phone and now it rested on Maya’s arm. “I told you not to do that! Why did you..”,

“It was for Sayo-san’s health, Lisa-san..”,

“But she is my patient! You have to ask for my concern to do something..! Uh.." Lisa grabbed her car keys and rushing herself outside. All that was left there was Maya, looking at the statistic. “At least you’re not the one who’ve done it, Lisa-san..”

Maya then noticed that even though she has put Sayo into a static state, her heartbeats and respiratory rate are still high.

\---------------------------

Sayo has done washing the big pot Lisa used earlier, and that leaving kitchen utensils and some plates. Sorting out those utensils, she didn’t noticed how much force she puts to grabbed on them. Then she noticed her hands are hot.

It was different, it felt weird, but the one thing she was able to describe was just.. that her hands are hot. She released all of the utensils, all of those made a loud crashing sound to the sink.

Sayo turned her hands up, seeing that all of them is now bathed with red. She looked at those utensils, and grabbed one that stained with red as well, grabbing at the silver colored parts, and there she felt another hot and tingling sensations roaming around her hands, now focused on her left hand. In instance, she let go of that thing, grabbing her own hand. All of the reds that roaming on her hands are blood, but Sayo never see it in her life, at least her life right now.

What she didn’t expect as well, those came together with a headache.

“Uhngh..” She slowly stumbled back towards the kitchen bar while holding her head.

Her vision got blurry, and when she looked back at her hands, another scene creeping into her vision, switching between Lisa’s kitchen to a place where she felt wet and cold, along with blood on her hands.

“Hh.. hh..” her breath became more laboured, the headache grew heavier as the time comes by, and clock in the living room seems to ticked louder near her ears. When she looked at her bracelet—a kind of those Controller, but this one was not removable—it was buzzing, and she grasped at it, whispering to herself.

“Calm.. Calm down.. Hh.. Please stop..” She felt choked and starting to cough.

As those vision became more apparent, Sayo can’t control her breath anymore. Before she lost her consciousness, her hazy mind meet Lisa, in her lab coat, drenched in rain.

“Imai.. san?”

\---------------------------

Lisa didn’t know if her heart can hold its own erratic beats. Sweats beading down on her face and neck, even though it’s cold outside. There was only one thing on her mind.

_Sayo.. Sayo, please be safe.. Sayo.._

Lisa stopped her car in front of her house and realized that she forgot to bring her keys. “Gah! How fool!” She slided down the doorknob and placing her fingerprints. For once glad she finally found a use of those high-tech locks on her house.

“Sayo?” she tried to call her calmly. “You’re here?” Lisa frantically opened their rooms, bathrooms, and finally, the kitchen.

It was something Lisa hoped never happened again.

Blood drips were everywhere, both of Sayo’s hand seems gushing madly, and Lisa can see some of it on her head.

“Sayo..?” she bends down and touched Sayo’s neck. She’s alive! What happened.. Lisa shook her head several times. “I should call the emergency units..”

‐-------------------------

Lisa keeps a close watch towards Sayo, now lying on their bed with an IV line attached to her right elbow. She had changed Sayo’s clothes and the paramedics earlier had patched Sayo’s hands. Now both of them are bandaged, Lisa can still see blood started to seep back to the gauze.

Even long after the medics has gone, injecting Sugarline—a drug to lift up feelings, in another words, more like endorphin—Sayo still have a rather low number. Sure, fifteen minutes ago Sayo’s vital signs still not in a good notch, but now Lisa was sure Sayo has stabilized.

“It must be terrifying, huh?” she slowly caressed Sayo’s hair and stumbled to a stop near some of Sayo’s hair that turns red. Medics said that there is no other wounds than her hands, so Lisa assumed that she must’ve touched her head.

_Why?_ _The more I think of it.._

Lisa looked back at her Controller. _How come those wounds enough to gave her attacks? Not to mention that it was long-lasting phase._

Lisa tried to make herself busy, since it’s still 10 in the morning and she didn’t dare to leave Sayo for work anytime today. Now, inspecting the kitchen once more, she did notice that the knife was the culprit, noticing streaks of blood on it. She needs to tell Sayo more about sharp things. Deep into her thoughts, Lisa didn’t notice that Sayo had woken up.

“Imai-san..” came Sayo’s hoarse whisper.

Lisa looked to her back, and rushed quickly to aid Sayo. “Sayo! You can’t get up yet!” she brought the teal haired girl back to the bed, slowly laying her down. Sayo raised her left arms, and look at her hand. “It’s.. i don’t know. Hot?”,

Lisa grasped her hand carefully. “It is what we called pain, Sayo.”,

“Pain?”,

“Yup. Hot, tingling, stinging feelings.” Lisa put Sayo’s hand back to the bed. “I’m sorry for not telling you about kitchen utensils.”,

Sayo fell silent for a bit. “.. Oh, it must be dirty there.. I have to-!”,

“Uh-huh,” Lisa shook her head. “You’re not going anywhere.” Sayo was about to argue back, but Lisa put her hand firm against Sayo’s arm. “I already clean it, okay? Now, rest up, rest up! You wanted to fold up those birds, right?”,

Sayo nodded, as Lisa noticed their talk has diversed Sayo attention. As the brunette stand back straight, she rubbed Sayo’s head. “Can I ask for one more thing?”,

“Sure~ What is it?”, “What is this.. red ink? Is this.. blood?”,

“Um, yeah, that is blood. You know where it came from, right?” Lisa frowned, seeing distraught face from Sayo.

“Am I..” Sayo gulped, “Am I gonna die?”,

“What? No! Of course not..” Lisa slowly reached for Sayo, now kneeling beside the bed. “It’s the first time you saw it?” she nods. 

“The nurse in the lab took some of my blood with.. syringe.. but it never comes out this much.” Hearing that, Lisa nodded and smiled warmly. She tried to soothe Sayo, lightly massaging Sayo’s shoulder. “It’s okay, it will stop bleeding and soon you will be fine!”,

Sayo looked at Lisa, and there the lab girl realized it was glistening with tears.

_Poor Sayo.._ “C’mere.” She hugged Sayo, whose body still trembling. This first experience was not going to be a nice one in any events, and turns out it was because of Lisa’s unawareness. Sayo tried to hug Lisa back, to no avail. She felt heavy, due to the shock earlier.

“I’m.. a bit tired..” Sayo reached for Lisa’s shoulder instead. Lisa rested Sayo back to the bed, and smiled.

“It’s because the shock,” Lisa frowned, she seems in pain. “I’m sorry, Sayo.”,

Sayo hummed, closing her eyes, “When you said you’re sorry, I don’t like it.” Lisa looked back at Sayo, 

“Why though?”,

“Hmm, I’m not sure how to say this, but you sounds weak, and I know that wasn’t your fault. Minato-sensei have taught me dangerous goods that we should be aware of but I have no knowledge in using the knife.” Sayo gulped, “They only taught us how to use scissors.”

Lisa went to the nightstand and pouring water to the glass, not forgetting the stainless steel straw, directing it to Sayo and told her to drink. The later girl nib the straw.

“I know,” Lisa said somberly, “Take a rest, then.” 

Lisa closed the door not tightly, just in a right position where she can see Sayo from the outside. She sat on the couch, exhaling heavily. They should input some cooking class no matter what age those wiped in. Taking out the tab from the table, she connected it to Lab’s web, and input her name with passcode. She scanned her fingerprint and retina, then logged in.

“Wait.. I should call Maya.” She looked at the contacts profile on her program, dialing Maya.

_“Lisa-san..”,_

“Hey, Maya. Uhm, just let those things earlier for another day. I’m updating her files soon for an update, along with her medical records.”,

_“.. So something happened.”,_

“Yes, I believe it’s my miss but I have another data for the improvement, right?” Lisa tried to be chipper and began typing the form. “How’s there? Has Rinko and Aya come back?”,

_“Yes, I have updated the conditions to them and as you know that we are quite calm today, they wanted to visit.”,_

“Visit?” Lisa heard the bell’s jingle along with the heavy rain.

_“Guess they are there already, eh? Fuheheh..”,_

Lisa laughed awkwardly. “We continue later at night, kay?”,

_“Oh, I was planning to go there afterhour, to bring you the new update today.”,_

“Appreciated, thank you!” 

Lisa rushed to open her door, acknowledging her guests. Rinko is still the same even after these years of them at school, still timid and shy, but now more reliable. She wore a glasses, warm turtleneck and slit skirt. Lisa noticed that the girl recently started to wear black stockings and high heels. She would tease them later.

And Aya, a year younger than them, still, everyone’s idol, even though she often stuttered, their kouhai is a hard worker. You wouldn’t believe she worked at Lab, with her soft pink blouse and tight skirt, wearing a pair of white flat shoes. She actually have a bad sight but using contacts.

“Lisa-senpai! We were so worried!” Aya grabbed Lisa’s hands, swinging it lightly.

“We.. went to check.. if we can help..” Rinko nudged her glasses back in place. They both were lightly drenched by the heavy rain, Lisa noted.

“My, my!” Lisa stepped back. “For now, let’s get inside and dry all your clothes! It's not good to catch a cold in the summer~”

Lisa locked back the door, and have idle chat with her patrons. She waited for the water to boil, and served her guest the tea. The brunette then began to fill the reports form in Sayo’s database. Aya looked at Rinko, and the later just biting her lip, unsure what to say.

Aya cleared her throat, “Lisa-senpai.” She waited for Lisa to looked at her, but she just get a hum of acknowledgement. She pushed through. “Uh, How’s Sayo-chan?”,

Lisa paused to answer, “She is okay. Maybe a bit dry on her throat and mouth due to the anesthesia. Her hands are wounded, because of the knife.” She stopped typing and sighed.

“Did we missed the subject? But Sayo said Yukina has taught their class about dangerous goods.. She didn’t know how to use a knife. Scissor is an exception, though.”,

“It’s true.. that we don’t have a special class or occasion where they would use a knife.. We agreed that it might triggered some Wiped if they had Leaks.” Rinko stated. Lisa nodded several times.

“Maybe we can add something like economic class in high school? It’s the final class before admission, so it’s like the last step before they went into society.”

Aya looked at both of her senpai and still can’t believe it. The two of them just talked as there is nothing between Sayo and Lisa before, as if it’s just some experimental matter. For more of her observation, Lisa had these flashes of emotion on her eyes. Those ticked Aya’s feelings. 

_Lisa-senpai is not okay with it. But she deals with it as professional as she could._

Aya sighed. As the senpais talking endlessly about how they should revise the curriculum and all. She shuffled and stood. They immediately held their talk.

“Can I see Sayo-chan?”,

“O-oh, she’s inside my room!” Lisa put her tab that she has been holding since then onto the table, walking towards her room. Rinko and Aya tailing her.

Lisa peeked inside. “She’s sleeping so careful, _nee~_ ” she whispered to both of her co-workers, as they nodded. Slowly walking in, Aya finally looked at both of Sayo’s hand, wrapped with bandage. She can also see the blood seeping through it.

“Should we change the bandage..?” Rinko wondered. Lisa hummed, “I think so.. but it would wake her..”

Sayo stirred up, slowly blinking. Her pair of emerald struggled to get a clear vision. “Ah, she’s awake!” hushed Aya. Lisa tapped Sayo’s arm, shifting her attention to the brunette.

“Aya and Rinko came to see you~” Sayo looked behind Lisa, noticing Aya waved at her and Rinko who just raised her hand. “Maruyama-san, Shirokane-san.. Thank you.. Sorry for seeing me like this. It must be inappropriate.”,

“Uh-huh!” Aya shook her head, “It’s okay to rest up!”,

“We were worried, so.. we came to visit..” Rinko nudged back her glasses. “..Sayo-san.”

Lisa checked the IV line, noticing the fluid was nearly empty. “I will take this off, and then we can change your bandages, kay?” She ruffled Sayo’s hair, and started to gather the things she needs for Sayo. Rinko followed Lisa, offering her help. The teal-haired girl smiled, purely in bliss. Aya didn’t believe how clean the Wiped’s mind is, until she saw Sayo. Look, the cold-hearted girl last year would be this kind of softie like this.

“Sayo-chan~” Aya scooted closer. “You’re cute when you smile like that!”,

Sayo immediately blushed, “I-Is that so?” Aya nodded. “I’m just showing my.. grateful face?”,

“Yeah, and it is still cute!” then Aya looked at Sayo’s hand. “Hey, Sayo-chan, is this hurt?”,

“Hurt?” Sayo frowned a bit, “If you described.. hurt the same as pain, I guess it is hurt.”

Lisa pushed the door back open, tailing her was Rinko. “She just learned the word pain to describe her feelings to those wounds, Aya.” The pink haired girl gasped.

“You never felt pained before?”,

“No..?”,

“If she feels it, our facilities must be bad, y’know~” Lisa put the bandages on the night stand and started to remove the IV Line.

Aya watched Sayo for a bit. The teal haired girl has been living peacefully these past months. It’s been 3 months since she properly saw Sayo like this, since the Wiping. Rinko and Aya was the one who stationed to take care of Sayo’s earlier new life. 

The first ever patient that have been Wiped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I'm not actually sure about this fic, but i have to try to write it to see, right! I might have some explanation weird, but paid it no mind and enjoy it without heavy thoughts(or with thinking about it is fine, hehe)  
> also i'm worried i gave too much information i dumped in there.. should i make a backlog or glossary for it? hehe tell me in the comment!
> 
> this fic was inspired by a novel titled "Slated" by Teri Terry. if you haven't read it, i suggest you read it! it's a good story~ and since this fic isn't that much alike, i won't call it an AU hehe  
> p.s. (1) English is not my forte so sorry for grammar mistakes and typos :" (2) i write so so slow please spare me :"


	2. File 2; Retrospection I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is always a pilot before storm happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Hehe enjoy this chapter! It's shorter though www  
> See ya on the end notes!

_3 Years Ago_

Sayo can’t believe her career might be boring, after all these time she joined military. Several wars between nations, even internal chaos, she was always on the front line, starting from the low-ranked army, to a Major, recently, though. With such a high possibility to succeed the mission, every mission, no wonder she was remarked as the Ice Demon on the field.

Her tactics were brilliant enough to put a shame to some General, even when she wasn’t intended to. Nothing can stop her, that’s what makes her special, in her own way. But she always thought it wasn’t enough. Her determination to strive for the best, is what burns her, to the point where she can no longer feeling something mundane.

It was sunny when Sayo arrived at the Lab’s facilites, where she were stationed this morning. This assignment was new, as the Lab’s were built several months before. To be stationed in the facilites, now ranked as the most vital place in the town, was an honour. That’s what determined Sayo to take the mission, despite how boring it sounds.

Well, she can’t deny it, it was a straight command from her father, the head of the research departement himself. Her father has some big influence to the military, since he conducted so much invention such as high-tech atilery and army’s strategy simulator. This made Sayo a bit annoyed since it’s like her father can use her out of her concern.

Sighed, Sayo grasped her backpack and raised it to her shoulder. In front of her, the grey building stood—not much distinctive appearance, Sayo guessed to avoid some dangerous approach. There stood some of her man, gathering in front of the building, around 20 people. They are suited tight, with kevlar and M-16 slinged on their back.

“Chief Hikawa has arrived!” one of the man called, as the other noticed, they began to stood in 4 line with 5 columns. “Greetings!” As they salute, they closed off their feet together, “Good Morning, Sir!”,

Sayo stood the same, “At ease,” she called. They all turned down their hand.

“As you all know that from now on we are stationing here as to guard this place. There are some departements inside, so we will have a list of the guard and the rolling. I’m the one in charge as the meeting had ensue before. The outside will be guarded by other division, so don’t bother the outside.” Sayo raised her hand, looking at her watch. Even when she’s the last of her squad, it’s still 20 minutes from the designated time for her to meet her father inside the building and starting to fill her guys in.

Her comms that she has been wearing since she left home this morning blaring on, _“Chief Hikawa, you may go inside, from the basement. As walking in the enterance will scare our patrons.”_ said the voice.

Sayo pressed the device on her ear, “Understood.” Then she looked at her squad. “Let’s go inside.”

\-------------------

Imai Lisa ran for her life towards the Lab’s building, the most plain building she ever saw in the whole town. Well, can’t protest enough, that’s where she should be, after taking years to get her title.

“I’m late, i’m late..” she rushed from the gate, showing her badge, and runs towards the inner building, seeing some of the guards are on morning assembly. _The facility must be important.. Look at those big guns..!_

Her mind cut shortly after that, looking at someone who just went out of the military car. It’s not a lavish-tanky-like car, it’s a black Mercedes-Benz Vision EQS, with military logo on it’s number plate. “Whoops, where is the room again..” She rushed inside.

Although people called it The Lab, it’s not that nerdy looking inside, Lisa thought. It’s pretty much like her campus building, with a hole in the middle of the building, so she can see to the top. The sun can light the place, because of the transparant roof the building has. “Lisa-san!” Maya waved to her, and Lisa quickly approached her.

“Maya! Where is the meeting room?”,

“They told us to go to Assembly Hall, said that there are going to be a little brief to the place,” she nudged to her back, “Rinko-san has already in, she got a company.” She answered, as to read Lisa mind.

“Well, I was about to wonder why Rinko would be inside with so many strangers,” Lisa chuckled, letting herself led by Maya. “Anyway, I never knew the building would be so plain like this.”,

Maya hummed, “Maybe you need to see the facilites from another lab. They are so~ much high tech, you will get spooked!”,

“You’re exploring already?!” Lisa gasped. “Am I that late?”,

Maya shrugged, “Not much, but I guess I will give you another tour.”

As Lisa went inside the Assembly Hall, she didn’t realize that it wasn’t a normal briefing for a new facility. The hall was filled with so much people, Lisa loses counting after 30th one, and most of them seems like Lisa and her friends. Young, bright with so much future. People who filled the front seats were the older ones, seems like the head departement or something. Then she saw some guards attending the assembly as well, as they began to stand near the exit door on the front of the hall. Lisa and Maya went in from the back. 

Door in the front hall closed in, the last person attending was a teal haired girl—Lisa wasn’t sure if it’s the girl’s real hair color or not, it’s rare—wearing the military attire. “It’s Major’s badge on her shoulder,” Maya whispered. “Rumour has it that she’s skilled to command the mission on her earlier days.”

“Oh,” Lisa subtly saying, fixing her glasses and get her tab ready. “Must be why she was stationed here. But why though? Is this facility that important?”,

Maya shrugged. Their talk was cut short as the mic on the hall went on.

“Thank you for attending the morning assembly, I hope that all of the researcher are here.” The man who’s talking is in his mid 30, his hair looked smooth, with no special appearance in his face that Lisa can notice on. Later she knew that he is not the head of the facility.

“I was simply here to have a brief glance to our researcher.” He glanced to the whole room. “First of all, my name is Mitake Kosuke, i’m the facility’s deputy. The head of the facility is Hikawa Ensei. He can’t attend here together with us because there are some things that he should arrange.”

Morning assembly went on for 2 hours, mostly talking about the main purpose of the building. Lisa knew her division is a new one—she’s the first batch researcher on Nursery that have graduated from Haneoka University—so she is quite surprised to know that even the facilities in their room are so high tech, all-in-one stuff to do extended research. No wonder Maya is so excited.

They proceed to go to their new lab, of course, taking a long detour as to give Lisa a glance to the whole building insights. There are plenty of labs and some experimental room, varies in their size. As Maya said that the Nursery division need not to bother other division for now, Lisa took it easy not to remember all of their place.

Taking the lift to the upper section in the facility, they went to the third floor. Lisa was a bit shocked to see a swarm of army stood outside the lift, all stood up align as to give Lisa and Maya a way out.

“E-Excuse us..” Maya went through, followed by Lisa. In the end of the line, she saw a woman, wearing a heavy military equipment like the rest of the armies. It’s no longer weird to see a woman in military but this one sure gave Lisa shivers.

On a short glance Lisa could see the woman feature—thin body, a rather high stature, with long teal hair. _Teal sure is a rare colour,_ Lisa repeated inside her head.

“Is there something you need from me, Miss?”

Oh, now that woman’s talking. Lisa stared back, losing her voice. _Beautiful.. How can-_

Lisa train of thoughts’ were cut by Maya nudging her, and she gasped, “No, Nothing.”

That was the first time Lisa met Hikawa Sayo, the head of security on the facility.

Sayo forced a curt smile, and lower her commando cap as to hide her eyes, and went in with her underlings.

“Lisa-san?” Maya pulled Lisa a bit, “Let’s go to our lab first!”

As they walk, Lisa can’t help but ask, “Am I looked dumb back there?”, Maya chuckled.

“I don’t take it dumb, i would say.. star strucked, Lisa-san.”

Lisa felt herself shivered, either from the air conditioner, or the gaze that still lingering in her mind. A resonance of green from her own, gazing so cold and crisp—Lisa can’t help but gulped at that sight.

“I wonder why her gaze is that cold.”

\-------------------

Sayo was deeply annoyed by the facility’s rule. The facility deputy that was giving an opening speech earlier, told the security not to use tactical uniform. He mentioned that wearing those will scare the researchers. Just like the voice that she heard this morning, she thought. When Sayo questioned, Mitake Kosuke said that was the operator from the radio tower in the building. 

Regarding the uniform, Sayo finally relents, although she said that it will lower their abilites to guard.

_Please think about that by yourself. The military gave a squad that they said their most dependable one, so I believe you can do it, Hikawa-kun,_ Mitake regards.

“As the deputy said about the uniform, please use suits tomorrow, bringing a light firearm is allowed.”,

“Yes, Sir!”,

Sayo and her squad were walking towards the lift, when it opens. Two researchers were inside it. “E-Excuse us..” The short haired brunette went through, followed by the other brunette. Sayo noticed that she was staring at her the whole walk towards the end of the army’s queue. She knew they were bothering other patrons but paid no attention, as they were not staring on them the whole time. Most of the researcher are scholar, and being near military is quite intimidating. Sayo understood it well as they were not in a harsh environment. 

But this long haired brunette was different. 

“Is there something you need from me, Miss?” Sayo tested the water. 

“No, Nothing.” She saw the long haired brunette fidgeting. 

_I bet she’s scared of me._

As Sayo sneered, she lowered her cap a bit and move away, back to her squad.

“Sir?”

Sayo slightly gazing back, to one of her squad member. “What is it, Udagawa-san?”

The red haired girl, wearing more or less gear as Sayo’s one, snickered. “She had eyes on you the whole time, y’know.”,

“Udagawa-san.” Sayo gazed back at Tomoe. “Do not talk if it’s not an important matter."

The air inside the lift became more and more chilling, despite the AC. All of the squad truthfully know and aware how scary Sayo can be. But this Udagawa seems immune to it.

“It is important, Sir! What if she is a spy?”,

“.. Suit yourself. If she is a spy she would have known her place. Which is, not here.”, “Geez, you’re so uptight, Sayo Sir!”

Sayo ignored her, instead she runs a holo screen from her wristwatch. it’s actually a high-tech device with multi features match with a decent computer. Every army has them to communicate and delivering important messages such as missions. Now she has information for the outer security guards, who has more privilege with firearms and uniform. _All of them are some good squads. This is really an important place-_

Her train of thoughts cut off by the messages appeared on the top of her screen. 

**Hikawa-001 –** _You are summoned by Superior Hikawa Ensei. Come by immediately._

Sayo answered with a check sign and looked back to her squad. “After this, go check the perimeter with the outer squads. Udagawa-san, ask the girl in radio tower to have a list of departements and I will have the list ready for tonight and onwards.”, “Yessir!”

All of her squad filling out the lift and Sayo left inside. “Sir?”, “I have a meeting with superior. Go on.” Sayo clicked the lift button and it closed.

“Hey, Tomoe, how can you be that carefree? You can be fired, y’know!” One of the squad man asked her.

Tomoe shrugged, “This is how I did it! Well, make sure not to make her too angry, though!” Tomoe laughed ot loud and began walking to the radio tower.

\----------------

Sayo saw the Superior Room, where her father should be right now. What she didn’t like the most is that this act seems like her father did nepotize her. Sayo didn’t know the truth but she thought so as well. _Why did father force me to work here, despite never talked to me all these years?_

They’re not particularly in bad terms, it’s that Sayo never gets time to. She did told her father on a breezy spring right after she turned 17th, in the middle of her private high school, she wanted to pursue a career in military. Till now.

She knocked twice. The door soon to be opened by the man who gave talks this morning. “Ah! Must be Hikawa-san’s child? Come in, come in.” The man stepped back to give Sayo access.

In the far back of the room, there is her father. He looked at Sayo, with his cold eyes. _As expected._ Sayo stood straight and saluted. “Hikawa Sayo, present.”, “At ease.” She lowered her hand and hold both of it behind her.

“Mitake-san, thank you for the layout of the ceremony this morning. You may go.” Hikawa Ensei gave the man a folder. Then Mitake Kosuke went out of the room. For once, Sayo was trained not to see her superior's eyes straight. it's pretty common in military. Her father made a thin line with her lips at that treatment.

“I see you grew well, Sayo.”

Sayo didn’t expect her father to talk ‘fatherly’ matters right now. She searched in her father’s eyes. It’s mostly useless, her father didn’t show any emotion in it. “I am. May I know why am I being called here?”,

Ensei raised her brow, and sighed. “Here’s the building information and there are some facilities that need more guard than others. I assume you already got your underlings to have the department list, so this might help to get the clarification of this building worth.”,

Sayo was curious, “I heard rumours that this building was funded heavily by government.”, 

“That is the answer.” Ensei pushed an airmail envelope. “Read it and get rid of it after you remember the whole thing.”,

“Understood.” Sayo held the envelope. “Is there anything else?”

Ensei once again exhaled, laid her back to the chair. “.. You never visited Hina, right?” Sayo’s eyes went wider, she bit her inner cheek when she heard her sister’s name. “It’s been years. I recall it’s before you got into military. She was transferred to an asylum in the city.”

Sayo closed her eyes and bowed her head. “If I had time.. I will.” She turned to her back. “I’ll take my leave.”

As Sayo closed the door, Ensei hunched her body forward, holding both of her hands together. “I will make this project works. Wait for it, Hina, Sayo.”

\-----------------

Sayo pushed the room where her squad in. “Oh! Sayo Sir! I already got the department list!” Tomoe handed her a paper. When she handed it, she noticed a dark menacing aura from Sayo. Later, Sayo took it and nodded. 

“Attention, Squad! Pay attention to the Messenger, as I may send some of you guys to take the first roll of the night. For now, go back to the barrack to gather light weapons. Udagawa-san, can you help me call the Chief in Duty for the outside’s guard?”,

“Right away, Sir!”, “Yessir!!”

Her squad soon fill out the room, so Sayo let herself relaxed. She can’t open the document right now, as she didn’t know the safety of the room yet, so instead she started to look at the department name. _For now, let’s put some people in every department. The priority comes later._

No matter how hard she tried to distract herself, the thought of what her father told her just now keep resurfaced. The reason why Sayo decided to go to a private school, to go into dormitories, leaving her sister behind..

_The reason I got into military.._

Her sister, Hina, was diagnosed with psychotic. She went home one day after her club in her middle school, the day when Sayo hated her sister the most became the day she hated herself. Until this very moment.

All those praise towards her sister, all those attention that everyone gave her sister.. She wished she never wished for it to be hers. Her resentment only bring misfortune to her sister.

_But I never meant for it to be that way..!_ —was what she told herself but it was too late.

Her sister was attacked by a group of mad scientist that kidnapped her on her way home. The only day when Sayo decided not to accompany Hina. Her father made a report to the police so they searched for the whole town.. only to find her sister with blood on ever nook and cranny of her body, along with several injection marks, a week after her disappearance.

She saw her sister being examined with the doctor in the hospital. Her twin sister became a shaking ball, shrinking to the corner of the bed, in order not to get touched. The only one she allowed was Sayo. That actually deepened Sayo’s guilt.

_I left you behind but you still wanted me.._

She left her for good, she did it for Hina’s sake. That’s what she thought.

The last time she knew, there was no cure for Hina’s disease. Apparently, the mad scientists injected several drugs, and then they forced Hina to do assignment, to test how far a genius like Hina can take it under the drug’s influence. If she failed, she get whipped and beaten. They throwed Hina out the moment she showed a symptom of psychotic. A failure of a guinea pig means death, but Hina managed to escape.

That’s the last wit she had.

Sayo pulled herself back to present. She hit the table and sighed. _Why now, Father._

She heard a shuffled move behind her. Sayo turned her back as fast as she can. “Sa-Sayo-chan.” The blue haired girl stood there, she wasn’t sure what to do. “Am I taking too long?”,

Sayo wiped her face with her own hand. “No, it’s not. I’m.. sorry to show you something unsightly, Matsubara-san.” She grimaced. “I didn’t hear you come.”,

“It’s okay, Sayo-chan. Maybe I need to make my prescence bigger?” she laughed a bit. “Oh, I already did the outer security routine. We can lend you some of us to aid if you need it.”

Sayo hummed, “I will call out to you if I needed one, thank you.” When she looked at Kanon, she didn’t know why a timid, shy girl like her was appointed as a Major. She discovered it after her promotion meeting, there this girl was present. She went to look at her past mission, it all went success, but no other record suffice Sayo’s curiosity. _It’s not from how long she attend to army. We got in almost at the same time. We’re at the same age._

“Matsubara-san, if you don’t mind me asking,” Kanon tilted her head, silently telling Sayo to go on. “When did you promoted as a Major?”,

Kanon counted with her fingers. “Around a year ago? I’m glad you soon promoted to one as well, Sayo-chan! Sometimes the General can be intimidating.”,

Sayo was unsure how to phrase her question. She wanted to know what exactly made Kanon a Major, even earlier than hers. But she opted not to ask, since it’s going to be rude either way.

“Do you have any urgent business to attend to, Matsubara-san?” Sayo stood and look at the inner window of the room, then she pulled the curtain close. She opened her wristwatch menu to do a full scan of the room. No camera or audio recorders detected.

“Nothing I’m not aware of, is there something you want to say?” Kanon, seems fully aware of Sayo’s gesture, locked the door.

“About this facility,” Sayo gestured for Kanon to sit. “What did you heard from the General?”,

The blue haired major looked at Sayo, “They said that this building needs a high-tier security, so they called Army to secure it. Anything that they researched here can’t be known to the outsider except they announced it themselves. We were not allowed to have question about what kind of research they conduct. What about you, Sayo-chan?”,

“More or less,” Sayo sighed. “My father runs this facility. It seems that they put me because my relations. This is embarrassing.”,

“I-I don’t think so! Sayo-chan, your performance is the top of our league, you know? They must’ve counted that in account as well.”

Sayo folded her arms. “.. Anyway, I’m glad I know some familiar face here, Matsubara-san. I look forward to working with you.”,

“Same for me, Sayo-chan. Say, let’s get some dinner before we get home!”, “That’s a good idea. But let me finish the work here first, before we get out.”

\---------------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, thank you for reading this far!  
> I've reached the 2nd chapter, though it's a flashback.  
> Tell you what, I'm going to do the main story in Odd Chapter and flashback in Even Chapter until i stated the otherwise~  
> I thought about this to avoid info dump but i still dump it ahaha sorry :"  
> Comments and Kudos are all appreciated, thank you soooo much *hug*
> 
> P.S. (1) English is not my first language so i apologize if my mistake inconvenience you in your experience in reading my fic(my friend said my english is too formal and i'm vibing with it haha) (2) the date of co-assistant program for my study has been announced which is oct 5th, so i might have much slower pace for this. i'll try to find the time to type some words of this fic, so let's do our best!


	3. File 3; Assessment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day that Lisa didn't want to come finally arrived. How will she overcome what will ensue?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, minna-san! I'm so so late in my updates! Enjoy the third chapter!

The Sunday Morning is actually meant to laze around. And plus, it’s raining. Totally clashing with the day’s name. The end of the summer is going to be wet all over, that’s what Lisa thought when she saw this morning forecast.

“Sayo~ Are you ready?”

The teal haired girl was standing at the back door, looking at some particular _teru teru bozu_ they both made last night. Lisa did said after they watched the forecast last night, _Let’s make teru teru bozu to shoo the rain away!_

  
“.. The doll.. didn’t make it.” Sayo looked back at Lisa. “Aren’t we make them too little? We should make like a thousand.”,

“You know it takes time for us two to make a thousand of them!” Lisa laughed. “It’s just the power of rain today was too strong for them to take~ Let’s go! It will be storming when we get there, y’know!”

Lisa decided that they will do some diagnostic check on Sayo and do some medical check ups. The working day might be too tight for them to add Sayo to the queue, since Sayo was supposed to have her checkups later. The incident made Lisa do the decision. And the other reason for her to push the examination now is that Sayo started to act different.

She seemed to distanced herself, she often had empty eyes if Lisa ever catch her. Before the event happened, Sayo was not someone who will say anything on her mind, but she will say if anything picks her curiosity. In these past week, Sayo didn’t mention anything. Heck, she barely talked.

“Is the seatbelt okay?” Lisa pulled her own seatbelt, “Tell me if it’s too tight, okay?” Sayo nodded as she plucked the seatbelt in.

Lisa turned on the radio, it was playing blues from old times. She tapped her fingers against the steer, and sometimes she would look at Sayo. The girl was looking outside the window, watching people or the raindrops, Lisa can’t tell. She did worry about Sayo’s condition. The worst one this far is that Sayo had a bad dream, 2 days after her hands scarred.

\-------

_Lisa thought Sayo was having a cold when she woke up at dawn that day. The teal haired girl was sweaty, she seems like she had a hard time to breath. Lisa took a thermometer, and when she checked, Sayo didn’t have a fever._

_“Sayo?” Lisa slowly nudged Sayo’s shoulder to no avail. “Sayo, wake up a bit, will you?”,_

_Sayo groaned, but she didn’t show any sign of waking up. She tossed and turned, grabbing the sheets until the wounds were opening again. That’s when Lisa decided she must wake Sayo no matter what._

_The moment she opened her eyes, Lisa seemed shocked. It’s as if Sayo saw a ghost. “Uh,” Sayo grasped her hair out of her consciousness. “Imai-san.” Lisa nodded and hugged her._

_Sayo’s body.. trembled._

\------------

Since then, Sayo shut herself off.

The thought of something’s wrong with Sayo is no longer something weird to begin with. Anomaly often happened in the past, where two of her previous Wiped Phase were Sayo’s trial. Either Sayo would act strange, like she would talked much, or she attacked the nurse in Lab. The third period of Wiping now has no trouble so far. That’s why Lisa kept worried if Sayo would have to do the fourth one. When there are some unknown side effect, it’s yet to be proven in long time study as Sayo was the longest patient in period they ever had since Wiped was invented nearly a year ago. Of course, she is the first.

_I hope I worry for nothing._

“Here, drink some water.” Lisa handed Sayo a water bottle she just got from vending machine. “Are you nervous?”,

Sayo shook her head, and accept the bottle. “Thank you-!” Her grasp to the bottle went loose.

_Track!_

“Oh, let me..” Lisa bended down to pick the bottle. “Here, Sayo..”

Sayo looked at both of her hands. It was trembling, and Sayo started to sweat, despite the room temperature. “I.. I need to go to the restroom.”, “Sure, sure!” Lisa was about to touch Sayo’s arm but the girl refused. No, she jerked when Lisa touched her.

“I can go by myself, Imai-san. Just..” Sayo looked at Lisa, her eyes widened and looked glassy. “.. Wait here a bit.” She said as she scurried to the restroom.

Lisa lowered her arm, looking at Sayo’s back. Her mind went haywire as to think so many reasons for Sayo to act like that. The scientific reason for it might be because Sayo’s motoric function is still lacking, but it’s been 4 months after her release, plus 6 month of basic training in the facilities. _Was it the effect of too much Wiping? Or could it be that Sayo is sick?_

When Lisa thought about other reason by thinking about Sayo’s mind.. _Sayo cried, wasn’t she? She must’ve cried right now. Is that her child trait? The Sayo I know.._

Lisa looked down to her controller that is buzzing, Sayo never show me her crying face before. _No, no. She shook her head, I must tend to the Sayo right now. She needs help the most._

The brunette chased Sayo to the restroom, finding one of the stall closed. “Sayo? You there?”,

“I-Imai-san?” Sayo sounded trembling, makes Lisa sure she was crying the whole time. Then again, Lisa wasn’t sure how to approach the girl. 

“Are you okay? Your stomach hurts? Or.. You weren’t locked inside, right?”, There wasn’t any response for some moment, but then Lisa heard a click of the lock and Sayo went out. She rubbed her eyes with her shirt sleeves. “Ow, look at you, your eyes all red!” Lisa wiped Sayo’s cheek. The girl went silent, so Lisa tried to ask, “All’s better now?”

Sayo nodded, “I.. I was sad. And..” Sayo looked at Lisa, but averted her eyes as soon she met Lisa’s. The brunette tilted her head, not saying anything as to not pushing Sayo. The teal haired girl shook her head, “..U-Um, I was sure my grip was okay, but then it fell and it’s embarrassing.”,

“It’s not embarrassing,” Lisa rubbed Sayo’s arm as her attempt to soothe the girl. It seems to work. “You are getting better, Sayo. We just need more time, okay? Promise me we will train more when we get home? We can play catch ball or.. what about we go fishing?”,

Sayo looked at Lisa, the glimmer in her eyes back, “Fishing?” the brunette nodded. “To catch a fish?”,

“Yep! I’ll teach you how~ Now, let’s go to the examination room, shall we?”

\-------------

When Sayo went to the Nursery Researcher room, she met Maya there. Lisa talked to her for some time, leaving Sayo wandered around the room. She looked at some photo frame on the table, noticing mostly Aya in it, with several people. It must be Aya’s table. She continued to explore the room, noticing so many files stored at the far south of the room. It’s rare to see much paper stored like that, since most of the researcher already stored their results to the computerization method.

She looked back to the whole room. It was a comfy one, seeing how every one of them were already putting their personal belongings on their tables—they must be working on this room for a long time.

“Sayo? Let’s go~”, “Oh, yes.”

Sayo was led by Lisa and Maya to the other room next door, noticing it’s a plain one without any decoration. A white plain room, with a table with two chair facing each other. Align with the door there is a big mirror—which is actually a two-way mirror. “Sayo-san, please sit down.” Maya pointed to one of the chair, so Sayo obeyed and sat on it.

Lisa smiled, “Sayo, I’ll be waiting in another room, okay?”, “Yes, Imai-san.”

Maya laid out several papers and handed Sayo a pen. Sayo noticed it as an assessment report, contained with several question and an empty paper. She remembered these were handed out to her every month.

“I.. did this about two weeks ago..” she mumbled. “Should I really fill it again?”,

“Well, we need to see how’s it going even if it’s for two weeks period.” Seeing Sayo bit her lips, Maya chuckled. “I will get you fries after this, so let’s do our best today!”,

Sayo blushed, but she nodded anyway. She started to fill the pages, and the last one, she drew several shape—round, rectangle, triangle as instructed. After that she pushed the papers back to Maya as she slowly rubbed her own right palm. Maya noticed it, “What happened? Your palm hurt?”,

“My hand feels tired.” Sayo put her hands down, “Continue, please!”,

“Okay, okay. Someone’s getting pumped up, huh? Fuheheh~” Maya opened a suitcase under the table after she put it on the table. Sayo frowned as she looked at that, since she never saw it before. There is a laptop and Maya connected it with a cable that have five branch of electrodes that goes to each of one’s fingers. “Can you give me your hand?”

Sayo stretched her arm, so Maya put them in. Maya pulled two more of the electrodes from the suitcase and stick one on Sayo’s volar arm and one on Sayo’s left temple.

“Now, breathe slowly, okay?” Sayo nodded. All she can heard was Maya’s fingers ran on the keyboard and with a final tap, she looked off the screen. “Okay, Sayo-san. I’m going to ask you some question about recent events, alright? First, it’s about last week event.”

Sayo’s face didn’t show any reaction, but when Maya peeked at her brain wave, it was peaked at some place. “What actually happened at that day?”,

“.. I was washing dishes.” Sayo gulped, “There is.. so many utensils and I decided to wash the big ones such as.. the pan and the pot. There was this knife, I don’t know how to hold it.”,

“You never saw Lisa-san wear it as well.”,

“Yeah,” Sayo lifted both of her brows, “She always told me to stay at the living room.”

Maya hummed, and she took some notes on her tab. “What did you feel when you touch it? Are you afraid of it?”,

“Imai-san said it was pain. It was hot and I felt my hands sticky with red ink. It is blood, I know. And.. I guess I’m afraid of it.”,

“It is quite given that we tend to afraid of dangerous things. Such as sharp things, hot things, big things..”,

“.. At that time I don’t know it’s that dangerous,” Sayo cut Maya, she knew it was rude because as soon as she did it she grimaced. “When Minato-sensei told us that we shouldn’t touch it if there’s no guardian around.. I don’t know why. I guess I’m learning something new.”,

“That’s great, Sayo-san.” Maya smiled, so Sayo tried to smile as well. “So, I noticed as well that your number were in the lowest point, so far in your record. What happened after that?”,

Sayo opened her mouth, but she frowned as she closed her mouth. Maya tried not to ask too quick because it will ruin the results, as it will be too much stress. The teal haired girl’s mind ran back to the event that day.

A brown haired girl with lab’s coat, now wet from the downpour. She felt herself wet as well. The feeling was surreal. When the brunette face getting near, she knew.

It was Imai Lisa.

“..yo-san? Sayo-san, can you hear me?” Sayo lifted her head back. She felt her hands clammy and there is a sweat running down from her head. “Let’s take a rest, shall we? I’ll get you drink.” Maya stood and left the room. There Sayo sighed, as if she just ran some miles away.

_What is this? Is this a nightmare? If so, why did I feel so real? And the brown haired girl in it.. It’s Imai-san._

_This must be dream._

Sayo nodded to herself. “A dream, Sayo. A dream.”

\----------------

Maya went inside the observer room, right behind the two-way mirror. “Lisa-san.” She approached her and handed a can of black coffee.

“Her reaction was absurd.” Lisa looked at the computers in front of her. “Her numbers dropped some, but she got pulled back right before you called her, Maya.”,

“That’s something we should consider, Lisa-san. I think we should run a memory scan.”

Lisa fell silent. She didn’t want to make Sayo uncomfortable but it’s too intriguing. Sayo didn’t mention what happened during the attack. It’s always be like this; she would keep silent. Lisa was confused as well, because it’s either Sayo didn’t know how to phrase what she has been thinking, or she didn’t want to tell them what actually happened. Lisa didn’t use cameras inside her house, said it’s disturbing her privacy.

“I’m afraid she has leak, so yeah, let’s do a memory scan-“

Lisa looked back inside the room, noticed that Sayo laid her head to the table. “Is she sleeping?” the brunette looked back to the computer. Sayo’s number was around 5, but her heart rate was high. “I’ll check.” Maya rushed to the white room, noticing blood on the table.

“Sayo-san?!”, “Ah?!” Sayo rose her head quickly. “Ya-Yamato-san..”,

“You..!” Maya took out her handkerchief inside her pocket. “Your nose is bleeding!”,

“U-Um. I don’t know why..” Maya went to Sayo’s side and press the handkerchief to her nose. “I’m not feeling good.”,

Maya touched Sayo’s forehead, but it’s not hot. “Can you hold the handkerchief?” As Sayo did what she told, Maya looked at the computer for some moments. The teal haired girl looked at the handkerchief, then she folded them inside out to get a cleaner side.

“It’s weird..” Maya wondered aloud. “What is this..”,

She looked at mechanical report from Sayo’s device that linked to the chip inside her head. The chip function is to control high-velocity within synapses in brain, which usually bring most of negative activities that happened to or from the bodies, including pain, anger, sadness. Those emotions were the trigger some researchers believe Wiped would have to burst out their old memories. That is actually just a prevention, because no one was sure the memories of one person could be ‘wiped’ cleanly. Nowadays that the leaking percentage of the Wiped has lowered, this chip was also included in the program because of that reason.

Now, that chip has shown it’s graphical curvature on the screen. The glasses brunette nudged her glasses up, she quickly checked her watch. There were some spikes for some moments, right after Maya left the room before. It was something she never saw since the first time they did Wiping. 

_Those ping in the program was our testing method.. to see if we can control the Wiped. It was erased to limited function, so it’s impossible to run this command now. Who did this?_

Maya felt chills on her back. It was corrupted.

“Is there something wrong, Yamato-san? You looked pale right now.”, 

Maya looked back to Sayo, “Nothing! Has the bleeding stop?”, Sayo looked at the cloth, it has no new stain. “It has stopped. Thank you for this, I will make sure to wash it.”

Maya smiled and nodded. “Hey, Sayo-san. Let’s go to the vending machine together before we continue the examination!”, “Ah, Alright.”

They went out of the room after Maya detached those electrodes from Sayo’s body. She looked at the two way mirror, then she got out.

\-----------------

Lisa noticed something right before she wanted to leave the observation room. She was about to go to Sayo’s side just in case Sayo freaked out because of blood. And she remembered that Sayo mentioned she did afraid of blood right when Maya asked her.

But when Lisa saw Sayo, looking at the handkerchief—the girl was as usual. She didn’t jerk or even lost her number. She flipped the cloth casually, as if it’s nothing.

_What? She didn’t budge!_ Lisa moved back to the window while checking the computer. _Yes, Sayo was stabilizing. So, it’s not blood.. It’s the knife?_

The brunette sat back to the chair, a realization coming upon her.

_She is afraid of knife. Is it just psychological reaction, such as trauma? Or is it something else from her past that she experienced?_ Lisa squeezed her own hands. _She.. was stabbed when I found her that day._

Her attention got distracted to Maya and Sayo, they walked out of the room. Lisa leaned back to the chair. “Phew. I’m too cautious. I hope it’s nothing.” She went back to the Nursery Researcher room and checked her phone. There are two messages, one from Rinko, one from Aya.

“Rinko?” she tapped it, and saw a screenshot of a laboratory reports. It’s from the other day when they took Sayo’s blood for checkup in case of infection. It shows a good result. “Whoa, thank God..”

She looked to Aya’s message, now this looks weird. The pink haired girl sent her a video. She played it.  
It was someone from the batch which Sayo was in, too. The second time Sayo got Wiped. 

_“Sumika-chan, when was your nose bleeding?”_ Aya’s voice.

_“Uhh, around the time my Mom called you, Aya-san.”_ Comes the girl answer.

The brunette gasped, “Nose bleeding!?” Lisa called Aya in instance. “Hello?! Aya?!”,

_“Uwah! You scared me, Lisa-senpai! What is it?”,_

“When is this, is it just now?”,

_“Um! I was called to Sumika-chan’s house since I’m the dispatcher. She got nosebleed out of nowhere, they said. She didn’t feel anything weird, but she did a bit shocked by that. When it started she was watching TV..”,_

“Aya, y’know,” Lisa cut in, “Right now I’m in the Lab. Me and Maya were doing diagnostic test for Sayo, doing earlier checkup than usual.”,

_“Ah! Should I get there as well? I told Sumika-chan to come by tomorrow, so I should prepare it as well!”_  
“Yeah. Come here as soon as possible,” Lisa felt uneasy, “I got a bad feeling about this.”

\--------------------

After she got the files about Aya’s patient, Lisa was about to went back to observation room when Maya caught her. 

“Lisa-san, we’re about to start.”,

“Ah, you got Sayo in the room already? I’ll be there after a moment. Aya is on the way here, she was called by one of the Wiped she dispatched.”,

Maya looked suprised, “With the Wiped?”,

“I don’t know,” Lisa looked at her phone, “I will wait for her a bit then we will catch up with you. Please start the procedure..” The brunette went back to her desk, and handed Maya a panel chip. It looks like a key, but it didn’t have the cuts usual key has. “Here’s the authorization panel.”

“Okay, Lisa-san!” Maya went out of the room, so Lisa sat back, opted to wait for Aya as she said.

She read the file about the girl Aya mentioned. 

_Issue No. 0004_

_Date 02/02/2xxx_

_Name : Kase Sumika_

_Birthdate : August 9th, 2xxx_

_Verdict : Death Sentence by March 1st_

_\---------Discontinued to Wiped Verdict.--------_

_Suspect named Kase Sumika has death sentence upon fighting against the law in the form of murder. The victim was her parents. Murder was conducted by arson. Place used as crime scene was the suspect house, on ----Street, No.--, Prefecture------, -----City. The suspect had the criteria for Wiping. Psychological Interview was conducted and went well as expected._

_\------------After Wiped Report-----------_

_Wiping was conducted to Suspect after judgement trial decided and succeed. Long-term observation issued._

Lisa lowered the file, sighing to herself. “Arson, huh..?” she looked at the far left of the cupboard that stored the file, the side where the 2nd term—that actually only existed in health department—of Wiped data was stored. There was the official Sayo’s report stored in, since the teal haired girl first time as an experimental subject was not reported in anywhere, at least not in that building. Not much people knew there was a first ever Wiped, the 1st term. 

She remembered it very well, the report she read when Sayo was given to her. _She was also caught as a suspect for arson._

_Throb!_ Lisa felt her head aching, too much thoughts ran across her mind. It’s hard to stay positive in that kind of situation. _I gave my all to surpress this feelings. I must be stronger, for Sayo._

As she sighed with finality, she kept reading the whole report of Sumika. The logs for monthly assessment were fine, no anomaly was present. Another patient with perfect condition after Wiping. Lisa’s train of thoughts was cut loose when she heard a knock and the pink haired girl went in.

“Lisa-senpai!”, “Aya! You’re finally here!”

Aya looked distraught, “I checked her last month report, she is doing well! Her caretaker was with her at that time and they are watching TV together. Nothing happened!”,

Lisa sighed, as she slowly massaging her brows. Seeing no answer from Lisa, Aya wondered. “Lisa-senpai? What is it? Oh! You mentioned in the call that you’ve got a bad feeling..”,

“.. Sayo has nosebleed, too. Around the time you sent me the video.”

The pink haired girl went agape, she blinked slowly, “C-Come again?” Lisa only nodded. The brunette put her phone inside her pocket as she moved towards the door.

“Come with me to Sayo’s place. They’re doing memory check.”,

“Is Sayo-chan really in that bad condition? Is there anything that makes her nosebleed?”,

“Nothing. It’s usual check, assessment and interview,” Lisa locked the office’s door behind Aya, “Sayo did look terrified of something, when Maya asked about the event that happened back then. They took some rest, and when we saw Sayo inside the room.. She’s covering her nosebleed.”,

Aya followed Lisa with no further comments. It’s so confusing to her that Sumika and Sayo had the same symptom. Is it really coincidence?

“Wait, Lisa-senpai,” Aya and Lisa now in front of another observatory room for Memory Screening. “Why Sayo need memory checking? Is she..?” Aya wanted to say ‘Leaking’ but she hesitated. Lisa’s face become dark, as she opened the room.

“We’ll see the chances of that happened.”

Sayo was already inside the CT Scan machine, all the cables—either IV Lines or electrodes were stuck along on her body. It seems that Maya had done until anesthesia procedure. Lisa pulled the mic, “Is there anything you need help with, Maya?”,

“It’s an OK, Lisa-san. We’re good to go.” Maya went out of the room as she joined Lisa and Aya. “Here’s the panel, Lisa-san,” she handed Lisa the key panel as the brunette accepted it. “Oh, Aya-san! You’re here already.”,

“Good afternoon, Maya-senpai.” Aya bowed a bit, but her sight was focused on the screen.

The Memory Screening purposes were to look at the Wiped’s memories as they lived post-discharge, basically the memories are computerized inside some folders. That’s including the chip function to do so. They are accessible as long as the brain itself remembered, so there must be some memories that have been lost, like their first minutes as a newborn human that is no longer there.

“Recent activities.. this.” Lisa hovered her pointer to the folder. 

There are some photos and video thumbnail. Photos indicated that Sayo saw a scenery and she tended to have photographic memories. They are just a simple scene as a sakura tree, a tv show, etc. Videos are some memories that tended to be a strong event, that she can even replayed it themselves inside their head. This indicated either traumas or happiest moments.

Aya looked at the screen, her face was pale even under the dimmed room. “I recalled this is your first time doing this, Aya-san.” Maya hummed as she held her chin, “That’s how a human memory actually stored.”,

“As if they’re a computer.” Aya said, her tone sounds hushed. “It’s quite simple..”,

“That’s because it’s only memories we are exploring. It shows how little we can understand from human brain. If we actually discovered all of brain function, we might actually have the competency to control human—",

“Alright, it’s open.” Lisa cuts in. “.. So many videos. How long did you anesthetize her for?”,

“Two hours tops,” Maya pulled out her tab. She pointed at the screen, “I’ll open two rows of those videos, Lisa-san. We can share.”,

“I’ll check the photos!” Aya rummaged her bag to retrieve her tab. 

They began to share it, so Lisa also started to watch some videos. It’s all in Sayo’s point of view, of course. Those memories she watched; the brunette must be on her sights. _From folding the origami.. and.._

Lisa gasped as she closed the video. Aya nearly snapped her head when she heard it. “What is it, Lisa-senpai!? Did you find something?!”

Maya let out her unique laugh, as Lisa looked at her, face completely red. “Maya! You saw it, didn’t you?!”, “It’s usual, Lisa-san. That’s common!”

Aya frowned as she watched her two senpais bickering on each other. Maya saw Aya’s confused face as she held her laugh, “Lisa-san just saw the video where Sayo-san was taking a bath with her.”

“ _Mou!_ Maya, you’re so mean!”

The pink haired girl looked at Lisa, then she blushed, “O-Oh.. Is that so..”

It must be more embarrassing if Sayo was actually her old self, being Lisa’s girlfriend and all. Now that the girl is Wiped, she’s no more than a child to her. That’s what pulled Lisa together every time she gets to be alone with Sayo.

That she would limit herself as a parent figure. That she would do her job as caretaker. All these thoughts made Lisa sighed to herself. _Can time move faster?_

“Lisa-san.” Lisa looked at Maya, as the later showed her a video.

Lisa felt her body chills, as she saw herself, looking straight to Sayo. She was wearing a lab coat that is dripping wet because of the rain. “Isn’t this when you met her.. When you bring her to your apartment? I remembered she was wounded as well.”

The brunette felt her eyes hot. _It’s vague but it’s clearly me. The sight too. It’s two years ago.. Oh my God._ She looked at Maya. “Can..” the brunette cleared her throat; it feels dry pretty quickly. “Can you show me the time?”

“I was watching the accident happened before this. Around eight in the morning, must be when she wounded herself.”,

“.. What if it’s just a dream of hers?” Aya said carefully. She was unsure what to say, it seems like her worst thought jinxed all of this.

“A dream can’t be stored.” Lisa shook her head. “She.. She is Leaking.”

The room felt as if it suddenly dropped some Celsius, a cold sweat ran down from Lisa’s head. “How come those triggered her so easily? The last one was not like this, it took almost a year for her to have leak!”

Maya watched the video over and over. It’s blurry and as if you’re watching a broken video. “Let’s try a suppressant.”,

“Suppressant? The initial drug for Wiped?” Aya questioned. The spectacled girl nodded.

“There’s a chance her chip was damaged, I saw the chip performance in the computer before this, it has some Ping.”

Lisa stood up quickly. “Maya, we got to wake her.” She pointed to the Memory Scanning room. “She’s having seizure!”, “What?!” Lisa pushed through and reached out to Sayo. She quickly removed all the device on Sayo’s body, then she pulled her rolling bed out of the machine. Maya checked Sayo’s statistic. The girl was still in seizure phase, as her right hand and foot jerked in uncontrollable movement.

“Aya, help me roll over Sayo. Maya, watch her oxygen saturation.” The pink haired girl nodded rapidly as she helped Lisa.

It was over the moment Sayo’s body rolled over, and as expected, the girl hasn’t wake up yet. Lisa looked at Maya. “It is her right half of her body only. I think it’s the chip failure.”,

“W-Why did you think so, Lisa-senpai?” Aya lifted both of her brows, but a realization hit her. “The chip was placed in left hemisphere!” Maya nodded.

Lisa checked her Controller. Sayo’s number is 3 alternating to 4. Quite low, but it might be because of the seizure. “Is opening her memory like this actually affect her emotion?”,

“.. It bounds to be, as you know that’s why we do anesthesia procedure.” Maya showed Lisa her tab.

Aya, who looked at how Lisa’s face reacted so shocked, strode to move beside them. “I detected malfunction of the device. With the stress from Memory Scanning, I think this is why she had seizure,” Maya looked over to Sayo. “It seems that it isn’t recurrent one, though.”,

“Glad to hear that. We need to get her inside the priority list for fixing the device.” Lisa pulled out her phone and she moved aside to call the technician and doctor in duty for tomorrow.

Aya read the report on Maya’s tab. She never saw so much red lines of programming language like that in command prompt. “How come is this happening? And if I’m not wrong, Maya-senpai, this is the second time Sayo-chan is being Wiped, right?”,

“.. Third times. But keep it a secret, Aya-san. There are not much who knew Sayo-san is on her third predicament.” Maya said in a hushed tone.

Aya gasped, but she kept it low as she saw Lisa went back. “I got the schedule for tomorrow,” Lisa smiled albeit crooked. “Can you two erase those recording of today? I’ll do something about cameras, so just remove the results and clean up.”

\------------------

They have moved Sayo to a patient room, on the third floor of the Lab. Maya and Aya were now adjusting the schedule for tomorrow with the technician and doctor—that Lisa summoned by phone earlier. Right after she edited the CCTV’s videos of today, Lisa watched Sayo closely in her bed. At least the videos inside Memory Scanning room has been secured. Not that it will make they suspicious, but better to be safe than sorry, right?

The brunette grasped Sayo’s hand. It’s still cold and thin, but it is definitely lacked of muscles. Your hands used to be big, sturdy, and somehow cold. She massaged her palm a bit, as she remembered that it will help gaining muscle strength.

“Nngh..” Sayo frowned, she slowly stirred. Her voice was hoarse, “Imai-san..”,

Lisa jerked, but she recoiled as she stood. “Sayo? Hey, I’m here.” The teal haired girl seemed as if she’s troubled to open her eyes. “Is the lamp too bright?” Lisa moved to dim the lamp, but Sayo grasped her hand.

“.. Please, stay..” Sayo was about to remove her oxygen mask, when Lisa held her hand down.

“No, not yet, okay? Let it be there for a while.” Lisa stroked Sayo’s front hair, “How are you feeling?”,

“.. My head feels funny. It’s like when I fell from the bed.”, “When did that happened? Not in our house, right?” Sayo shook her head.

“Around sometimes ago, when I’m inside the facilities..” Sayo said as she tried to rose herself a bit. Lisa frowned after she heard that. _Huh? Facilities? When is that?_

“By the way, can you lift this bed a bit higher, Imai-san?”, “Sure, sure~”

Lisa sat back; her hand never leaves Sayo’s weak grasp. She looked at Sayo, noticing that she seemed to exploring the room with her eyes. “Feel free to take another sleep, Sayo. You’ve done well in assessment today.”,

“Um, thank you, Imai-san.” Sayo looked at Lisa. The girl seemed more tired than the last time she saw her, which is this morning. “Have you been working while I’m with Maya-san? You look tired.”,

“O-Oh, is that so?” Lisa touched her own face, “Well..” she contemplated if she had to tell Sayo about tomorrow’s procedure or not. 

“.. Is it about me? Is there something wrong with my body?”,

“I-It’s..” Lisa sighed, “I guess I’m bad at lying, huh~” she laughed flatly. Once again, she looked at Sayo. “You have to stay here until tomorrow, Sayo. We’re going to change the device inside your head.”

“Oh.” Sayo tilted her head. She didn’t know what to do, so she didn’t ask anything. She knew there is a device that was placed inside her head. Teachers from the school told her before. “After that, we can go home, right?”

Lisa’s eyes widened, but soon she laughed. She ruffled Sayo’s hair. “Yeah, we will.”

\-----------------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fic thoughts : If anyone ever wonder about it, Sayo is the one and only first generation of the wiped, but since she was being experimented, her file wasn't stored there. it was considered as classified one. of course, the only ones know that was the researcher involved.
> 
> ~  
> Thank you for reading this far! Weeeell, I'm so late because of my daily routines, adapting to new routine is hard! soon i'll be joining co-assistant by group, and it will be more hectic.. I keep thinking about this story, don't worry!
> 
> See you on the next chapter--another flashback!  
> Comments and kudos are appreciated, thank you!


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